Understanding and Counseling the Chronic Drug User

Abstract

Effectively understanding and counseling the chronic drug user and others who are dependent upon agents and substances outside themselves to bring about affects of well being and more positive emotional states in their lives requires that the counselor understand how emotions and sensations occur, and what their relationship is to internal and external thinking. The authors present a paradigm of external and internal thinking as these apply as causes for positive and negative emotional shifts. The concepts of internally and externally oriented thinking and behaving are discussed, and these are related to counseling the dependent drug user. Finally, strategies for dealing with the dependent drug user, always an externally oriented person, are presented.